Pope Francis meets with the Metroplitan of the Russian Orthodox Church

 

File Photo: Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, visits Pope Francis in the Vatican (5 August 2022)  (AFP or licensors)

POPE

• VATICAN
• POPE FRANCIS
• WAR
• RUSSIA
• UKRAINE
• PEACE

Pope Francis receives Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Antonij

Russian Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, meets Pope Francis in the Vatican.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Amid the Pope's countless appeals for peace in the ongoing war in Ukraine, Pope Francis received Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk in the Vatican on Thursday afternoon, according to the Holy See Press Office.

This marks the second visit of Metropolitan Antonij, the head of the Department for External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, in the Vatican, after his 5 August 2022 visit, which was part of the ecumenical contacts between the Pope and the Patriarchate of Moscow.

That encounter had followed a 16 March video conference between Pope Francis and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, in which the Pope invited all Christians and Christian pastors to work toward peace.

Pope Francis and Metropolitan Antonij also participated in the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan in September 2022.

Vatican meeting between the Pope and the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan

 

Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk with Pope Francis in the Vatican  (Vatican Media)

POPE

• POPE FRANCIS
• RUSSIA
• ORTHODOX CHURCH

Pope Francis meets with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Antonij

Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, who succeeds Metropolitan Hilarion, visits the Vatican for the first time, after his appointment in June.

By Vatican News

Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk visited the Vatican for the first time on Friday.

The meeting between the head of the Department for External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow and Pope Francis is part of the ecumenical contacts between the Pope and the Patriarchate of Moscow, and follows the conversation between Pope Francis and the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow Kirill, which took place on March 16. 

Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk replaced Metropolitan Hilarion in June as president of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Metropolitan Hilarion had been sitting next to Patriarch Kirill during the videoconference in March, when the Pope expressed to the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia his conviction that, regarding the war in Ukraine, the duty of Christians and their pastors is to "do everything " possible "to help peace, to help those who suffer "and to stop the fire” because “those who pay the bill for the war are the people."

Subsequently, on 25 April, Pope Francis sent a letter of good wishes to Patriarch Kirill on the occasion of the Easter of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches that follow the Julian calendar. 

“May the Holy Spirit," the Pope wrote in the letter, "transform our hearts and make us true peacemakers, especially for war-torn Ukraine", while "we feel all the weight of the suffering of our human family, crushed from violence, war and many injustices.”